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TERESITA TANSECO-CRUZ

January is, for many of us, the month for New Year’s Resolutions. A fresh start. Or maybe a re-start, a reboot…if we need to resuscitate last year’s collapsed resolve, lying in the dust. This year, I am going to lose those 10 pounds…conserve water…give Master Card some rest! I will save energy on judging others. I will maximize exercise in Humility and go on a no-Arrogance diet. I will clear out the clutter of Complaints and make unlimited room for Gratefulness. I will determine to serve instead of being served. I will…I promise…

The New Year is ushered in by calendars or diaries in stores, as company giveaways, on desks, walls, ubiquitous mobile phones. Every twelve months, it comes, inviting a personal review or a projection of our life’s balance sheet. How does one preserve or increase assets that enhance life for oneself and others or reduce liabilities in how one relates to others?

Maybe New Year’s Resolutions can come bundled with Last Year’s Bounty. While Resolutions represent the promise to do better and is a picture of hope, Last Year’s Bounty can represent what has already been received or done that had made life better for one’s self and for others, love that had been shared, and faith that had allowed one to surmount even the most difficult events or circumstances. And when one ties it all up with unceasing gratitude, then each year can become increasingly richer. No blessings left behind, no lessons forgotten. No new beginnings discouraged. Then we ask God to grace this vibrant stream, this continuity. Oh, does He know continuity!

God has no New Year’s Resolutions because He doesn’t need to lose ten pounds nor promise not to lose His patience. God does not need to resolve every January to love us more or bless us more or forgive us more. He IS Love and Mercy and Generosity and Compassion unsurpassed, through all time. No calendar is needed.

God, grant me the grace, then, to see every blessing and every struggle as the continuous flow of your drawing me closer to you. And may I respond to your call every moment so that my unfolding Renewed Life with you is not marked by changing calendars, but with humble heart and spirit changes.

Thus may I live… streaming! Thank you, Lord!